Unity of Palestinian factions should be taken as opportunity to achieve peace, not threat – UN

Union of the Fatah and Hamas movements and the creation of a government of national consensus should be seen as an opportunity to achieve peace between Israel and Palestine, and not a threat to the negotiation process, said on Tuesday Special Middle East Coordinator to the peace process Robert Serry.

Speaking at the UN Security Council, he said that he spoke about this with the President of the State of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas on April 24. " He assured me that the agreement (the reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas) will be carried out under his leadership on the basis of existing commitments of the PLO, " said Serry.

According to him, under these commitments, in particular, he refers the recognition of Israel's right to exist, renouncing violence and commitment to earlier agreements on the Middle East.

"We will closely monitor developments and believe that if the union will be on terms that President Abbas described, and it will not prevent peace talks. Thus, it should be seen as an opportunity rather than a threat," said the UN special coordinator.

During the meeting, the Security Council Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN Vitaly Churkin also pointed out the assurances of Abbas's commitment of Fatah and Hamas forming technocratic government by the previous agreements and stated that "without the consolidation of the Palestinian ranks on the platform of PLO and the Arab Peace Initiative" it is impossible to achieve "a lasting settlement of the Palestinian problem". "Overcoming the split entirely meets the objectives that puts the international community, calling for a comprehensive Middle East settlement. We are convinced that without Palestinian unity any agreement that may be reached between Palestine and Israel will not be sustainable. We believe that questioning the national unity of the Palestinians is a political mistake, " said the diplomat.

In return, the US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power noted that the announcement of the formation of a technocratic government with Fatah and Hamas was out of season "in a time when efforts are being made to reach an agreement to extend the negotiations." She stressed that any Palestinian authority "must clearly and unequivocally commit to non-violence, recognize Israel and accept previous agreements and obligations of the parties."

On April 24 Israel announced that they "will not negotiate with a Palestinian government with Hamas, a terrorist organization that calls for the destruction of Israel." Thus, the dialogue actually broke a few days before the end of the nine-month period specified by the parties at the US mediation.

Speaking to reporters, Riyad Mansour the Permanent Observer of Palestine to the UN States put full responsibility for the failure of the 9-month period of negotiations on Israel, which, according to him, had violated the agreement by continuing settlement activities and refusing to release all Palestinian prisoners in return for which the Palestinian government announced accession to several international conventions. According to Mansour, in the course of the meeting "none of the members of the UN Security Council opposed the legitimate right of Palestine to join the conventions and treaties." "We are satisfied with this level of support and understanding from the international community," he said, noting that Israel with "their actions once again drove itself in complete isolation."

All rights reserved. The use of any material or its part from this website and quoting in mass media requires appropriate credit and a link to the web page where the information was taken from. Contact: world@ruvr.ru